Wheeled animated toy



March 17, 1953 F. P. WAMBACH WHEELED ANIMATED TOY Filed April 10 1951INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 17, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1Claim. 1

The object of this invention is to devise a novel construction andarrangement of an animated toy.

A further object of the invention is to devise a novel toy having a bodyportion mounted on wheels, the axles of which are provided with contactmembers which will rock pivoted oifcenter figures on the body portioninto raised position and then allow them to fall due to their offcenterpivoting, gravity and their own weight so that the figures will strikethe body portion and produce a clicking sound. I thus provide a wheeledtoy movable in opposite directions, and which, if the figures simulate abird or fowl, will give the impression that the figures are feeding.

With the foregoing and other objects in view as will hereinafter clearlyappear, my invention comprehends a novel construction and arrangement ofan animated toy.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, I

have shown in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of itwhich I have found in practice to give satisfactory results. It is,however, to be understood that the various instrumentalities of whichthe invention consists can be variously arranged and organized, and theinvention is not limited to the exact arrangement and organization ofthese instrumentalities as herein shown except by the scope of theappended claim.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of an animated toy embodying myinvention.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan View.

Figure 3 is a section on line 33 of Figure 1, showing a transversesection.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings:

The toy has a body portion l with depending sides 2 and 3 in whichlatter the front axle 4 and the rear axle 5 are mounted in any desiredmanner. The front axle 3 has wheels 6 fixed to it, and the rear axle hasthe wheels 1 fixed to it so that the axles turn with the wheels. Thefront axle has a contact member 8 fixed to it and the rear axle has acontact member 9 fixed to it, and these contact members control therocking movement of figures It and H which simulate live animals such asfor example chicks as shown.

The figure i0 is mounted on the base by a pivot [2 extending across anopening [3 in the body portion, the pivot extending through thesimulated legs [4 of the figure 10.

In a similar manner, the figure H has simulated legs extending throughan opening [6 in the body portion and having a pivot H. The pivot pinsare secured to the body portion in any desired manner, and pass freelythrough the simulated legs, so that the figures are free to rock ontheir pivot pins.

A cord [8 is connected with the body portion for drawing the toy along afloor or other surface.

The figures are pivoted ofi'center of their mass so that due to suchpivoting the forward portion of the figure will rock downwardly andcontact the top face of the body portion as shown by the figure I0. Whenthe toy is moved along the fioor, the contact members 8 and 9 willcontact the legs of the figures to rock the figures on their pivots intotheir raised position and as the contact members pass out of engagementwith the simulated legs, the figures will rock downwardly and theirforward portions such as for example the bills will strike the top faceof the body portion and produce a clicking sound.

The top face of the body portion may have a feeding zone indicate-dthereon at the location where the bill of a figure contacts such topface.

The pivot of a figure is in a plane spaced longitudinally from that ofan axle so that the legs are inclined when the figure is in a raisedposition.

The rocking movement of a figure to raised position may be limited bythe wall of the opening through which the simulated legs extend as willbe clear from Figure 1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

In a wheeled animated toy, a body portion having a top, longitudinallyspaced axles mounted in the body portion, wheels fixed to the axles, thetop having longitudinally spaced openings, simulated figures having legspivoted in the openings and extending below the top, contacts fixed onthe axles having different angular locations on the different axles andalternately contacting legs of different figures to alternately rockthem into raised position of the figures and then release them, the massof the figures at their forward ends being offcenter relatively to theirpivots to permit the figures when released by the contact members torock downwardly and strike the top with clicking sounds, and the upwardmovement of the figures being limited by contact of their legs withwalls of said openings.

FRANK P. WAMBACI-I.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,382,091 Olson Aug. 14, 19452,382,630 Gumb Aug. 14, 1945 2,523,417 Brown Sept. 26, 1950

